This invention relates to improvements in shielding for electrical cables and is particularly advantageous when used with cables that are to be considerably flexed by hand in use, such as those connected between a medical instrument and transducers or other devices that are to be held against or attached to the body of a patient. Shielding is essential so as to prevent radio frequency energy and other electrical fields from interfering with the extremely small signals carried by the various leads of the cable. In order to be the most effective, the shield should have an extremely low resistance between any point on it and either end.
Shielding of the prior art has included loosely braided wire strands, but this did not provide as much torsional flexibility as desired. Cables have also been shielded by wrapping flattened knit wire tubes or a foil tape around the cable. The former is bulky, and both, aside from being too stiff, are subject to the formation of gaps when twisted or bent.